The National Assembly says it will again give its support for financial autonomy for the 774 local governments in the country.
It comes as the ad hoc committee of the House of representatives reveals it has a total of twenty three bills on proposed amendments to the 1999 Constitution.
After a series of legislative endeavours in and out of the nation’s capital, the ad hoc committee on Constitution had its last retreat in Abuja which will culminate in the presentation of its report for consideration by the larger House.
Its Chairman and Deputy Speaker of the House, Lasun Yusuf, says all amendments will this time, be presented bill by bill in order to guard against rejection by the Presidency.
He also forecloses intake of new bills as he says twenty three bills are in the committee’s kitty.
And reacting to the clamour for local government autonomy, the Deputy Speaker insists all attention should be shifted to the states since the National Assembly is disposed to the independence of the councils .
The Committee says financial autonomy for the local government is top among its tasks.
The Committee is looking to conclude work on the amendment early in 2018 but its team of development partners fear that may be dicey as it will coincide with kick off of campaigns towards the 2019 general election.
The two day retreat is to review the report from the technical session of the sub committee on bills.
